If you had a spare Game Boy Camera and the printer to match, what would you do with them? If you're media artist Dmitry Morozov, you'd make a one-of-a-kind firearm. His GBG-8 gun uses Nintendo's photographic peripherals and an Arduino board to shoot photos (almost literally) and print them on the spot -- effectively, it's a low-resolution Polaroid cam with a trigger. We can't imagine that this would go down well with security officials, but it could be a blast if you want to capture 8-bit memories with more flair than the original Game Boy gear allows. Let's just hope that Morozov offers some instructions so that his picture pistol is easy to reproduce at home.

Gotta catch 'em all. Gotta catch 'em all. Gotta catch 'em all. For some 17 years, those words have reverberated around coder Pepijn de Vos's mind, and thanks to an Arduino and some ingenuity, his dreams have now come true. Well, probably not, but a project like this deserves an epic back story. In reality, hobbyist de Vos has created a system for trading Pokémon from the first generation of the franchise with himself. The setup is actually pretty simple: connect a Game Boy, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance to an Arduino board via a Game Link Cable. Then, borrow de Vos's code (available on GitHub), and start trading Pokémon with the Arduino.

There are certainly ways to play classic Game Boy titles on modern TVs, but many of them involve emulators. What if you have the real system in your hands? That's where the crowdfunded Hdmyboy project might just save the day. The project lets you modify the original Game Boy (thankfully, in a non-destructive way) to put its video on any HDMI-equipped display. If you've ever wanted to play Link's Awakening on your big-screen set, it's now relatively trivial. The Hdmyboy even works with a NES controller, so you can relive your childhood from the comfort of the couch.

Up for a long nostalgia trip? You're in for a treat. NicksplosionFX has posted a video showing the start screens for almost every original Game Boy title ever made, ranging from 4 in 1 Funpak to Zoop. Each opener only lasts a matter of seconds, but the sheer volume of games amounts to two hours, 42 minutes of monochrome animations and chiptunes -- watch it all and you're bound to find something that evokes your childhood. It's thankfully in alphabetical order, so you can quickly scrub through if you're just trying to find that one game you always played after school.

When it comes to video games, more often than not audio gets the short shrift because, well, you can't see music in a screenshot. It's with that in mind that Red Bull (yes, that Red Bull) is putting together a documentary series about the scene surrounding classic Japanese video-game music called Diggin' in the Carts. The first episode focuses on the early days of the industry at Namco Bandai and Nintendo and features interviews with, among other luminaries, the first person in charge of game music for the Mario company, Hirozaku "Hip" Tanaka. Tanaka would go on to produce the iconic scores for Balloon Fight and Metroid, as well as design the sound chip for the first Game Boy. This premiere episode, embedded below, also showcases just how early soundtracks were composed. Spoiler: it involved more wave-forms and soldering than it did keyboards and drum machines. Interested in seeing more? A new clip is scheduled to release every week for the next month-and-a-half.

What's a maker to do when they don't have access to a classic Game Boy, but happen to have a 3D printer and a few other parts lying around? Craft their own, no Legos required, of course. With some patience, you too can build a copy of Nintendo's 25-year-old handheld using a Raspberry Pi, Super NES controller (for its buttons and circuit board) and a few other bits and bobs. Adafruit has print files for the iconic portable's case as well as step-by-step instructions for how it all goes together, but, as 3DPrint points out, it likely won't be easy and the project requires a decent grasp on soldering and circuitry. Emulated games run off of an SD card, and the DIY-Game Boy can even play any classic Nintendo ROMs you might find online too. We'll leave wading through the legalities of that whole process up to you, though.

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Mon, 07 Jul 2014 17:51:00 -040021|20926455http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/26/feedback-loop-phone-prices-mobile-chrome-extensions-telev/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/26/feedback-loop-phone-prices-mobile-chrome-extensions-telev/http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/26/feedback-loop-phone-prices-mobile-chrome-extensions-telev/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsWelcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There's so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week.

This week, we talk about the ridiculous pricing structure of cellphones, discuss the possibility of extensions in a mobile browser, share thoughts on HBO's Silicon Valley and fondly recall our memories of the Game Boy. Do you have something to say? Head past the break to join the conversation!

Off-white business cards with Silian Rail lettering are so passé -- these days; it's all about creativity. This Game Boy look-alike, for instance, demonstrates its creator's skills in one fell swoop: It doesn't just display a résumé, it's also a simple gaming handheld that can play Tetris. The device was made by Oregon programmer Kevin Bates, who calls it the Arduboy, because it uses a barebones Arduino board (the tiny computer also found inside Kegbot and Fish on Wheels) connected to an OLED screen. To make the hand-held gaming experience as authentic as possible, he also equipped the card with capacitive touch buttons, a speaker and a replaceable battery that lasts up to nine hours.

We love what the Hyperkin Retron 5 brings to the table, namely compatibility with ten classic gaming system cartridges: NES, Famicom, Super NES and Famicom, Sega Master System, Genesis and Mega Drive, and Game Boy original, Color and Advance. The problem is, Hyperkin's played coy about it's price and availability... until now. It'll be available on December 10th, and it'll be on sale in both Europe (for €89.99) and in the US ($99.99). And, it turns out that the Retron 5 that'll go on sale will have a few more tricks up its sleeve than the prototype we played with back at E3. The exterior's been modified to better cool the internal components, and it'll pack a work with the Sega Power Base Converter that lets you play Sega's Master System games in the Genesis slot on top. So, now you can officially start carving out space in your entertainment center for the Retron 5 -- which shouldn't be difficult once you've cleared out all the elder consoles it replaces. Less is more, people.

Update: We mistakenly wrote previously that the Retron 5 comes with a Power Base converter, in fact, you'll need to bring your own converter to the party.

Hyperkin has developed a reputation for modern takes on legendary game consoles that are often better than the real thing. If true, its just-unveiled Retron 5 is a nostalgia singularity. The hardware emulator can use its namesake five cartridge slots to play original games from no less than nine vintage consoles, including the Genesis (Megadrive), NES (Famicom), SNES (Super Famicom) and GameBoys from the original through to the GameBoy Advance. It keeps going: there's a custom Bluetooth controller that can handle every system, mix-and-match original controller support, save states and upscaling for both video (to 720p, through HDMI) as well as audio. While we'll have to see just how well the Retron 5 works whenever it exists as more than a conceptual graphic, that opportunity may come quickly when Hyperkin is tentatively shooting for a July release at less than $100. About all that's left for a follow-up Retron are Jaguar and Turbografx 16 slots -- pretty please?

Hyperkin's fourth RetroN console wants to be the perfect way to enjoy gaming's past glories. Alongside the ability to play NES, SNES, Gameboy and Sega Genesis titles, it's compatible with PAL and NTSC formats, with ports for your NES, SNES and Genesis controllers -- you still have those, right? If not, Hyperkin's own Bluetooth-connected controllers can fill in, while the console's UI will allow you to reassign buttons as needed. There's also HDMI output, so those 16-bit graphics will get the full glory of your HD plasma screen. Alas, following another notable games console, the company isn't showing off the device just yet. You're looking at its predecessor above, which should at least give your mind's eye something to work with until it's finally unfurled at Wisconsin's Midwest Gaming Classic on March 23rd.

Many of us whiled away untold hours of our youth mashing the D-pad, A and B buttons of the original Game Boy, which is why we've seen many hacks using its iconic hardware. Gaming on mobile touchscreens isn't nearly so tactilely pleasing as that portable, however, so nostalgic modder Chad Boughton decided to swap out his GB's dot-matrix display for the Super AMOLED of a Galaxy Nexus.

He first removed the screen and trimmed the chassis so that a GNex case could be bolted flush with the rest of the body. The more involved part of the mod, however, was getting the buttons to work wirelessly with the phone. To accomplish the trick, he trimmed the Game Boy's circuit board to make room for the guts of a Wiimote, which he then connected to the buttons. From there, he installed the Wii Controller IME app to get the GB talking with the phone, and presto! One of the coolest Android gamepads we've seen was born. You can see how it works in the video after the break, and there's a slew of shots showing the mod in progress at the source below.

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Thu, 10 Jan 2013 07:54:00 -050021|20424118http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/14/lego-game-boy-transformer-uses-blocks-for-more-than-tetris/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/14/lego-game-boy-transformer-uses-blocks-for-more-than-tetris/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/14/lego-game-boy-transformer-uses-blocks-for-more-than-tetris/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsSo what's cooler for '80s geeks than a Lego set, a Game Boy or a Transformers robot? Why, a Lego Game Boy Transformer, of course. At least, that's the idea behind the latest pièce de résistance from building-block lover Julius von Brunk, who not only got the touch but also got the power to create his very own Game Boy-inspired Lego Transformer. The "Domaster" -- no relation to the exercise machine for perky thighs -- borrows heavily from fan favorite Soundwave and even features a Tetris cartridge that transforms into a little birdie that looks like Laserbeak. Two fake AA batteries double as blaster cannons so folks can mutter "pew-pew" at pictures of Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf. Yes, it isn't as big as China's Optimus Prime and it can't play Super Nintendo games like this Game Boy costume. On the plus side, at least this thing won't ruin your precious childhood memories.

Cyberstep sent our hearts aflutter-ish at last year's NAMM with its prototype KDJ-One, a Game Boy with gigantism that held a portable digital audio workstation inside. Now, twelve months later, the company's pulled the dust sheets from a version that's ready for prime-time. Inside its roomy bowels you'll find a 1.0GHz Intel Atom processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB SSD and a 5-inch WVGA (800 x 400) touchscreen that'll let you control that piano-roll score editor. There's also 15 chunky rubber LED-lit keys, a Jog dial, D-Pad and a rumble pack so you really know when you've got a poppin' choon going. You'll be able to pre-order the vanilla kit for $800, but for $830 you'll also find WiFi baked inside, in either Game Boy White or Black'n'Red -- but be warned, orders are said to be fulfilled within six months. After the break we've got some new footage of the unit being put through its paces, which at no point shows it being used to play Super Mario Bros, shame.

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Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:23:00 -050021|20154229http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/geeks-lose-minds-recreate-first-level-of-super-mario-land-with/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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There's homage and there's homage. And then there's three guys spending over 500 hours to recreate the first two minutes and twenty seconds of Super Mario Land using more than 18 million Minecraft blocks. The movie, made by carpenter James Wright, Joe Ciappa and a gamer known as Tempusmori, had the guys running the classic monochrome platformer in an emulator and replicating it pixel-for-wool-block-pixel inside a giant Minecraft Game Boy. The team spent approximately four weeks, working six to seven hours a day with no days off, to create the shots, which were then dropped into a video editor and slowed so each frame displayed for one sixth of a second. Take a gander at the final product and the making-of video after the break for your daily dose of mind blowing.

Sure, we may have had our official Halloween costume contest on October's Engadget Show, but who are we to deprive you the reader of taking part in the spooky holiday fun? We've asked everyone to send in their geeky costumes and got some great responses, from the above playable Game Boy, to Barf from Spaceballs, to the requisite Vulcan, to a handful of Steve Jobses. Check out some of our favorites after the break, and continue to send them along to tips [at] engadget [dot] com.Gallery-137985

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Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:03:00 -040021|20094873http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/02/bonhams-space-history-sale-includes-spacesuits-memorabilia-an/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Bonhams' upcoming Space History Sale -- happening May 5th in New York -- is filled with items that will make any space geek reconsider their current spending priorities, but we couldn't help but notice one particular item that hits a little closer to home. Mixed in with spacesuits expected to fetch upwards of $100,000 and other various memorabilia from both the US and Soviet space programs in this, a wholly ordinary Nintendo Game Boy (complete with Tetris, of course) that accompanied cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov on Soyuz mission TM-17 in 1993. Interested? The estimate is pegged at a somewhat reasonable $1,500 to $2,000, but we have a sneaking suspicion Bonhams might be underestimating the will of a considerable number of folks who are both space and video game nerds (we're speaking as one ourselves, of course). Hit up the source link below to check out everything up for auction.

Don't get us wrong, we know that Nintendo's original 8-bit portable can create some killer sounds -- we'd neversellchiptunesshort. That said, you haven't truly heard Game Boy music until you watch the video above.

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Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:14:00 -040021|19908502http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/04/hong-kong-gadget-flea-market-a-blast-from-the-past/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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If you've seen our Hong Kong feature from awhile back, then you would've already heard about my favorite gadget hangout Sham Shui Po. By chance, my post-flight stroll in said district yesterday coincided with Apliu Street's Chinese New Year flea market, which featured many vintage items like jade figurines, paintings, jewelry, video tapes, vinyl records, etc. Naturally, what really caught my attention were the old gadgets that were literally piled up along the street, and from just HK$30 (US$3.85), you could easily pick up an old classic such as a Sony Clié, an HP iPaq, a WonderSwan Color, an original GameBoy, a MiniDisc player, or even a proper old school laptop or camera. Hell, some guy even had a couple of Nintendo Micro VS Systems (Donkey Kong Hockey and Boxing)!

The catch? Well, there was obviously no warranty for these old timers, plus the broken screens or the lack of compatible batteries for some meant that most were more suitable as collectibles. Regardless, we took a $6 gamble with a Sony Clié PEG-NR70 Palm PDA with docking station and boom! It works! Well, except for the battery that only lasts for an hour, but I'll figure something out.
Gallery-115754

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Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:51:00 -050021|19829790http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/wp7-game-boy-emulator-demoed-soon-you-can-show-your-pokemans-in/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/wp7-game-boy-emulator-demoed-soon-you-can-show-your-pokemans-in/http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/wp7-game-boy-emulator-demoed-soon-you-can-show-your-pokemans-in/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23comments
Classic gaming on the go is more or less old-hat for many smartphone platforms, but Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is still playing catch-up. Latest addition is this Game Boy emulator, running in Silverlight courtesy of Samuel Blanchard, who created the video below and then triple-letterboxed it for your squinting pleasure. Right now it is still a work in progress, unable to save your in-game progress and needing some further polish, but it certainly looks like it runs well enough -- though hopefully he gets that aspect ratio fixed before offering this up for download.

Cyberstep's KDJ-One, a portable digital audio workstation currently in prototype mode, is a noisy little wrinkle in time. While we're fairly certain it will never see the light of day in your local Guitar Center, we really do want to wish it the best. It combines the aesthetics of a few of our very favorite things: the D-pad, button layout, and chunkiness instantly reminded us of the original DMG Game Boy. The keypad on bottom looks a lot like a tweaked version of a Roland TB-303. And the software inside -- pure MeeGo -- reminds us of a Tungsten-era Palm device crossed with a laptop from 1999. (But in a really good way!)

A five-inch resistive touchscreen -- complete with stylus -- sits on top of an Atom E640 CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD drive, and a pair of 2000mAh batteries. Oh, and it's got a rumble pack on the backside: Cyberstep assures us the QW Vibration System adds "a whole new element of force feedback to your music production experience." The sampler / looper / sequencer production software itself seems super-basic and pretty fun, although we could probably squeeze a lot more production flexibility out of a $300 netbook. But just look at that dude and tell us you don't want to squeeze its little white cheeks. Yeah, exactly. Video after the jump.

Do you want this Game Boy-themed iPhone 4 case? Well, how does it feel to want? Not all that hot from where we're sitting, that's for damn sure. Spotted at Incipio's CES booth, the company put the case together to demo the company's production capabilities. Sadly, for us, the thing won't be coming to market at any time in the near future (unless someone in Shenzhen decides to take on the cause, that is). We must say, this is a big improvement over the company's iPod nano watch bands -- and an immense improvement over the guy who shoved an HTC Aria inside his old Game Boy (throwing in a fake iPhone 4 for good measure). Get another look after the break.

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Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:56:00 -050021|19798658http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/31/game-boy-htc-aria-and-fake-iphone-4-combined-for-your-amusement/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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We're not sure what happened to Japanese tech mashup artist Goteking that inspired him to stuff an Android phone and a KIRF iPhone 4 into the back of a Game Boy Pocket, but stuff them he did, along with a bank of battery-powered LEDs that -- if we're not mistaken -- spell out a Tokyo train schedule. Perhaps it's designed to be a mind trip through and through, or perhaps it's a homage to the joint forces of nostalgia and geekdom that spark daily flame wars all around the world.

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Fri, 31 Dec 2010 06:31:00 -050021|19781971http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/10/game-boy-emulator-being-developed-in-javascript-by-a-very-smart/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Sure, it's one thing to build a Game Boy emulator out of what is typically viewed as a limited-purpose language for enhancing website interactivity for the usual emulator-building reasons: you like video games, you're trying to impress the ladies. But just to prove a point? Imran Nazar is building a Game Boy emulator out of JavaScript to show how far the language has come, particularly with the fancy new stuff HTML5's <canvas> tag allows for, and to see if it would be possible to fully emulate a Game Boy from the CPU up. Sure, HTML5 has already proven useful for straight games, but an entire architecture? Turns out, it's pretty possible, and Imran has an excellent multi-part tutorial for how he's doing it. Right now there's a nearly playable version of Tetris, and pretty soon we'll all be playing Zelda in our web browsers and that time when we tried to build an HTML table from scratch to show a few of our favorite animated GIFs on our GeoCities page will only be a distant memory...

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Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:44:00 -050021|19710995http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/08/game-boy-condom-concept-helps-you-level-up/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
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Just like the iCade, this is one of those "just for fun" ideas that actually seems to make a great deal of commercial sense. Think about it, Nintendo has sold bajillions of handheld consoles in its time, and it keeps churning out sequels that mean even newer followers are familiar with such classics as Donkey Shlong. And Mario's mushroom-related growth spurts? Marketing gold! So why not capitalize on all that brand awareness with this selection of cheerfully colored condom cases? Designed by Ben Marsh and Julia Roach, they aim to "create a desire to purchase the product for aesthetic reasons," and quite frankly, they do succeed. This certainly puts a whole new spin on the idea of power-ups, though.